How should I practice?
First of all, why do we practice?
The simple answer would be to get better at a particular action or skill. In this case let’s use singing. So we practice in order to get better at singing. We practice to improve our technique so we can sing higher, louder and with greater ease.
Okay, but then why do we sing?
Singing is a basic means of human expression. We sing to express ourselves through song, tell stories and connect with others in a meaningful way. Each of us has the ability to learn to sing and to actively participate in the joyful experience of making music.
So more specifically why do we practice singing?
We practice singing so we can improve our technique which gives us the ability to express ourselves freely and easily through song.
My students often ask me, “how often should I practice?”, “how long should my practice session be?”, “what should I practice?”. These are all great questions that I will answer here in this post.
How often can I practice singing?
You can definitely practice every day as long as it feels comfortable to do so. What do I mean by comfortable? Well, it’s important that your voice doesn’t get tired or fatigued. Like any muscle it will get tired from use but the key here is how quickly your voice recovers. If recovery takes longer then 24 hours then I would recommend taking a step back and observing how you are using your voice throughout the day. This includes speaking in addition to singing. Perhaps you are required to speak a lot for work or at home. The voice is incredibly resilient but if vocal fatigue is present then I highly recommend resting your voice. Signs of vocal fatigue are raspiness, loss of range and ability as well as discomfort, swelling, soreness. Resting your voice means reducing the intensity of singing and speaking. Try to use your voice less if possible. If you do need to use it then try speaking in a slightly higher tone and with a lighter sound as opposed to low and with a vocal fry. This is much easier on your voice. If your voice is feeling tired then you can also try Silent or Mental Practice. I will discuss silent practice in more detail later on but it’s essentially going through your practice routine in your mind rather than actually doing the actions (singing). It can also include studying your music, memorizing lyrics, making artistic decision and doing research about the composer/performer. I should also note that you don’t have to do this only when your voice is tired. This is actually an important part of practice and the necessary preparation that goes into a performance.
You can practice everyday as long as it feels good and doesn’t cause fatigue. If your voice is tired then remember to take it easy. Try silent practice!
How long should my practice session be?
When it comes to length of practice I firmly believe in quality over quantity. This means that having a shorter practice session that is mindful and focused will be more effective than a longer session that is mindless and unfocused. This sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how many people don’t take this into account. They simply sit down and start grinding away while they count the minutes until their practice time is up. This “mindless practice” often leads to boredom, frustration and is ultimately very unfulfilling. Mindful practice means being present in the moment and fully experiencing it. It means you are aware of everything that is happening during the process and you are able to observe what is happening in a non-judgemental way. I find it is easier to be mindful when you are focused on one specific target or goal. We are all guilty (myself included) of taking on too many tasks at once and feeling overwhelmed. When it comes to practice it’s more effective when we keep our focus to a single task. Mindful practice also means being curious, feeling inspired and that you have a sense of purpose. This however doesn’t always mean that every single experience is going to be positive. Acknowledge your own successes as well as the challenges. Own up to something if it’s not working. The key is to observe it and acknowledge it in a way that is non-judgemental. When something isn’t working, take a step back and ask yourself, “what exactly am I doing in this exercise?”. Refocus and try again. Also, if something isn’t working feel free to take a break and come back to it or even switch to a different exercise.
Now that we’ve established quality of practice is more important than quantity that still leaves the question, how long should my practice session be? This will be different for everyone but I recommend you aim to find a length of time that challenges you both mentally and physically but allows you stay mindful and focused. So before you start doing practice marathons, you want to make sure your technique is solid. This can be referred to as “technique before volume”. To know whether your technique is sufficient check in with your voice: is there fatigue, irritation, discomfort? Use your recovery as a gauge. The faster the recovery time the more efficient your technique is. Ideally your technique causes very little fatigue other than the energy that’s required to sing and you can continue to use your voice throughout the rest of the day. However, much like exercising muscles at the gym the muscles will eventually get tired and need time to recover.
So I bet you might be thinking, just give me a number of minutes to practice and I’ll do it. Unfortunately there is no magic number! Not to mention that singers cannot practice as long as an instrumentalist can. My advice is to start with a small attainable goal. This might seem very easy at first but it’s so important that it’s realistic and attainable. Maybe you start with 5 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Or maybe you would rather break this up differently and do 15 minutes twice a week. Or 10 minutes 3 times a week. There is no magic formula for the amount of time spent practicing. It’s going to be different for everyone and that’s okay. I will say that consistency can be very effective but most importantly I want you to find a routine that works best for you and allows you to stay present in the moment. You might be surprised at how fast the time goes by when you’re focused on a single task. Remember to celebrate your success when you achieve your goal, no matter the size!
Strive for quality over quantity when it comes to length of practice. Be mindful and try focusing on one task at a time to stay present in the moment. Avoid taking on too much and take breaks as needed. Start with an attainable goal which might seem small at first. Find a routine that works for you and celebrate when you are successful!
What should I practice?
I divide my practice into two different sections called Technique and Application (I sometimes call this artistry). The purpose of technique is to improve our singing ability and achieve vocal mastery so that we can express ourselves freely. We strive to make technique feel automatic so much to the point that we no longer have to consciously think about it. Technique breaks down the different components of singing and puts them into specific exercises. These exercises can include breathing, body awareness, singing on vowels, singing scales, identifying vocal registers etc. Personally I like to start my practice with a warmup, both physical and vocal.
Warmup
The purpose of a physical warmup is to connect with my body and gain awareness of my breath. This might involve some light stretching or movement. For my physical warmup I will often do a breathing exercise such as panting or exhaling on a fricative consonant such as s,z,sh,f,v. These consonants create friction and help to activate our support muscles located in our abdomen. If you’ve been very active during the day, for example, if you’ve gone for a run or done a workout you may find you don’t need as much of a physical warmup. Regardless, it’s a great way to start your practice and prepare the body for singing.
Next let’s move onto the vocal warmup. The purpose of this is to gradually warm up the voice. Think of this like a bit of cardio before hitting the bench press or other weights at the gym. One of my favourites is a 5 note scale on an “E” [i] vowel. Starting on a fairly low pitch and moving through my range. Note that your starting pitch may be different than mine depdending on your voice type and comfortable pitch range. Choose a pitch that is comfortable for you to start on. My warmup consists of about 10% of my total practice time so it’s not actually that long.
Technical Exercises
After the warmup we move into the technical exercises. Now we are training and developing our skills. These skills are related to whatever sounds or gestures we’d like to be able to do with our voice such as sing with clear tone, sing higher or lower, or to sing with greater ease. We can use specific technical exercises to improve these different skills. These exercises are often given by a teacher or instructor. The purpose of the exercise is often quite specific but feel free to modify an exercise by changing the different variables such as pitch, volume, vowel, musical pattern etc. I have my favourites but when I’m teaching I often will adjust exercises in the moment based on what I’m hearing and observing from the student. One of my go to exercises is an exercise that I like to call “The Elroy”. It doesn’t really have a name but the reason I call it this is because I learned it from a man named Elroy Friesen who is a choral conductor in Winnipeg Manitoba. He had us sing this exercise in a rehearsal and since then it’s been a staple in my The exercise can be done on any vowel singing on these scale degrees (1 2 1 2 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 ). The goal is to try and sing the entire exercise as legato and connected as possible and in one breath. Feel free to crescendo (get louder) to give the exercise some direction. I will spend about 40 percent of my practice time on technique which is equal to the amount of time spent on application however this is flexible dependent on your goal of the practice session.
Start with a physical warmup (without singing) to connect with your body. Move on to a vocal warmup before starting a specific technical exercise. We practice technique so that it becomes automatic, more efficient and reliable so when performing we can focus on the artistic details of a song. (emotion, intention, lyrics, dynamics, style etc.)
Repertoire
After spending time of technique we move on to Application. The goal is to use the technical skills we have learned and apply them to our songs so they can have more emotion and impact but also so we can perform them with greater ease. The purpose of Application is to gain experience using our new skills as well as feed our creative side. Practicing Application could be simply singing through your song from start to finish. It could also be breaking down a song into its different components such as the lyrics. Take some time to study the lyrics separately from the music. Write them down or speak them out loud. You may find different meaning and appreciation for the lyrics when heard on their own. You can spend time memorizing your lyrics. I’m an auditory learner so I personally like to record myself speaking them and then listen back while going for a walk. We are so fortunate to have the technology to do this right in the palm of our hand. Another thing you can do is listen to a recording of your song for inspiration. This is a great way to get ideas but I encourage you to make the song your own and make it is authentic to you.
If you’re working with sheet music you can spend time studying the score. Take notice of the different markings such as dynamics, articulation, tempo, etc. If you aren’t working from a score that’s okay too. You can still make artistic choices about how you’d like to portray the song. This might involve making choices about the instrumentation you might use when performing this song. You might notice that some of these things don’t necessarily involve singing.
I would consider all of these things silent or mental practice. This type of practice is often overlooked however it is definitely valuable and I highly encourage you to try it. People often think that practice means they have to be singing the entire time which is simply not the case.
Application, as the name suggests, involves applying your vocal technique to your repertoire, preparing to share your songs with other people and being creative. This is why I also like to call it artistry. It’s about clarifying your artistic vision of the song or performance.
Practicing Repertoire involves applying your vocal technique to your songs and preparing to share your songs with others. I also call this section Artistry because you are making artistic decisions about the performance while feeding your creativity.
Cooldown
Doing a cooldown at the end of a practice session (or after a performance) can be very beneficial for your voice. I find my voice is always in better shape the next day if I take the time to do the a cooldown. The purpose of the cooldown is to relax the voice and get it back to a balanced state or neutral position. The type of cooldown exercise you do depends on the kind of singing you were doing. You want to bring the voice back into balance. If you were singing a very loud and high song with lots of chest voice (belting) then you may want to counter that with some lighter more head dominant singing. This could involve lightly singing a descending triad on “oo” [u]. If you’ve been singing mostly in your head voice then your cooldown might involve singing some chest dominant sounds such as singing a three note scale on an “ah” [a] vowel fairly low in your range. If you’ve been singing very long sustained sounds then you might want to do a faster moving exercise to increase flexibility and vice versa. It’s all about balance!
I like to break up my time approximately into these percentages. Please know that this flexible. For instance, if you have a performing coming up you may find you spend more time on repertoire.
Time Breakdown
10% Warmup
40% Technique
40% Repertoire
10% Cooldown
Some Key Takeaways
Choose an attainable goal for your practice
Start small and build up your discipline and vocal stamina
Quality of practice is more important than quantity or frequency
Staying focused on a single task when practicing will help you be present and mindful during the process
Take breaks as needed between tasks during the practice session
Silent/Mental practice is part of practicing and is a very effective tool
Find a practice routine that works best for you!
I hope this gives you an idea of how you might approach a practice session. If you have questions for me about practicing and singing then feel free to get in touch with me. I always enjoy hearing from people and answering questions!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. It means a lot to me. If you would like to hear more from me then I encourage you to subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on social media.
I look forward to seeing you in the studio and online!
Sincerely,
Adam
